Mended
by Ilex the Elder
Summary: Ash learns the truth about his father and the circumstances that led to his birth.
1. Chapter 1

Seventeen-year old Ash Ketchum barged noisily into the kitchen where his mother was preparing dinner and dropped his backpack on the table with a loud _thud_. 

"Hey, Mom," he said as he stuffed a piece of bread into his mouth. "What's for supper?"

"Lasagna," she replied. "And it still has another twenty minutes to go in the oven. Want to help me make the salad?"

"No thanks," Ash replied between bites. "I gotta go find my birth certificate. Misty's going to help me fill out college applications tonight and Celadon U. needs a copy."

"It's upstairs, in the blue and white shoebox in my bedroom closet," Delia said without paying much attention to Ash. She was too busy trying to keep an overly helpful Mimie from merrily tossing the salad all over the kitchen counter and floor. 

Then with horror, she realized what she had done. Delia raced upstairs, hoping it wasn't too late.

But it was.

Ash sat on his mother's bed with a stunned expression on his face. He was holding a small photograph in his trembling hands. 

"Mom," Ash said with a shaky voice as he handed her the picture, "what's this?" 

__

What's this picture of Mom and Professor Oak doing in here, Ash had wondered as he opened the envelope labeled "Ash's birth certificate". _And who's the baby with them? _

He looked at the date on the back of the picture. It was dated over seventeen years ago.

__

Seventeen years.

Ash studied the picture again. 

__

Looks like this was taken in the hospital right after I was born.

By now he had figured out that the baby in the picture was him, but he thought it was a little strange that Professor Oak was holding him. And the way Professor Oak was looking at him was strange, too.

__

Man, you'd think that Professor Oak was my dad by the way he's holding me in this picture.

Ash then felt as if he'd been hit by a blow from Machamp.

__

Oh my God!

With shaking hands, Ash unfolded the birth certificate and quickly scanned it until he came to the box labeled "Father". 

And there it was. In neatly typed letters was the name "Samuel A. Oak".

Delia saw the expression on her son's face and felt her heart sink. He knew.

"Ash," she said quietly as she sat beside him on the bed, "we were going to wait until you were an adult to tell you, but I think you're old enough now to know the truth."

"Which is?" Ash said with a pained expression. He had figured it out too, but he wanted to hear it from her.

"That Professor Oak is your father."

"But why…why didn't you tell me?" Ash held out the birth certificate, which he had been crumpling in his hands.

"Because at the time we thought it was the best thing to do," Delia said slowly as she took the crumpled document and smoothed it out. "Ash, when I got pregnant with you, I was working as a research assistant in your father's lab."

__

My father…Ash still couldn't believe what he was hearing.

Delia continued. "Because we were working together and Samuel was my boss, there would've been a huge scandal. Especially since I was living in the apartment above the lab as the night caretaker at the time. His career as a researcher and professor would've been ruined, not to mention his reputation. We decided the best thing to do was to say that my husband was away on a Pokémon journey and had stopped by to visit me briefly and that's how I got pregnant. The truth was that Will was long gone before that. Matter of fact, the day the divorce papers arrived was the day I got pregnant with you."

Ash had stopped believing that his father was away on a Pokémon journey long ago. He had figured that his dad had abandoned them, like Brock's dad had done to him. Part of him had even secretly hoped that his dad would someday return like Brock's and they would be a family again. And now his mom was telling him that his dad really wasn't his dad after all, but was Professor Oak. He hadn't even known that his mother and the man he had thought was his father were divorced until now.

__

Guess that makes me Ash Oak, he thought bitterly. _And if I'm Professor Oak's son, then that makes Gary…_

Ash started laughing hysterically and flopped backwards on the bed. Delia looked at her son with frightened eyes. 

"Ash, what is it?" she asked fearfully. She was worried that the news had been too much for him to bear and that something inside him had snapped.

"I just figured out that I'm Gary's uncle!" Ash laughed bitterly. "I'm that stuck-up jerk's _uncle_…can you believe that? Actually, I don't even know what to believe anymore." Ash sat back up and put his face in his hands.

"Ash," Delia said, fighting back tears, "I know this is hard for you to accept, but you have to believe one thing…that I love you and always will." She placed her arm around her son and gently squeezed his shoulder.

"I can't deal with this, Mom. I've gotta get out of here for a while." Ash jumped up and ran out of the bedroom.

"Ash, wait!" Delia yelled as Ash ran down the stairs. She heard the front door slam so hard that it shook the pictures in their frames. Delia covered her face with her hands and wept. 


	2. Chapter 2

Misty found Ash sitting with Pikachu in a secluded spot at the bank of the river that ran through Pallet Town and onward toward Viridian City. She and Ash often came to this spot when they wanted to be alone. 

"Ash," Misty said angrily as she stomped towards him, "you were supposed to be at my place an hour ago to work on your college applications!" She stopped in her tracks when she saw that Ash had a six-pack of beer beside him and was in the middle of taking a sip from his second can.

"Wanna beer, Misty?" Ash slurred.

"Ash, what in the world are you doing?" Misty said furiously. "Where did you get the beer from?"

"I 'borrowed' it from Brock's place. He won't miss it." Brock was a student at Viridian University and had his own apartment; Misty and Ash were frequent visitors. "Sure you don't want one?" Ash tipsily held out a can to her.

"No, thank you," Misty said coldly. "And you don't need to be having any more, either." He didn't offer any resistance as she took the open can away from him. "What's gotten into you, Ash? I've never seen you like this before."

"Well, it's not every day that I get the news that my dad's not my dad and that Gary's my uncle," Ash said sarcastically.

"What? What are you talking about? Just how many of these have you had?" Misty dumped the rest of the beer on the ground and sat down beside Ash.

"Just those two."

"Well, you're acting like you've had more because you're not making any sense. Now start over again…what's this about your dad not being your dad and Gary being your uncle?" Misty was alarmed about how Ash was acting.

"Let's see, where do I begin?" Ash wearily leaned back against a tree. "Nearly eighteen years ago, Professor Oak knocked up my mother while she was working in his lab. You're now looking at Ash Oak, son of Professor Oak and uncle of Gary Oak. Gary….I can't wait to see the expression on that jerk's face when I tell him that he's gotta start calling me Uncle Ash." Ash giggled drunkenly. 

Misty sat there stunned, her mouth wide open. "Ash, is it true?" She couldn't believe it, either.

"Yep, my mom told me everything this afternoon when I got home." Ash smiled bitterly at Misty. "Who knows, Misty, maybe you're actually my sister or aunt or something."

Misty was still trying to take it all in. Ash's mom and Professor Oak had an affair and Ash was their son….it was all so unbelievable.

"I…I don't believe it," Misty said incredulously. 

"Neither can I," said Ash. He closed his eyes and slumped against the tree trunk. "Leave me alone now, Misty. I've gotta think about some stuff."

"Are you sure, Ash? I don't want to leave you like this." Misty was seriously worried about him.

"I'll be fine, Misty. Hey, I already survived learning that I'm really not who I think I am."

"Pikachu, you keep an eye on him," Misty whispered to the little yellow Pokémon. "Don't let him do anything stupid, okay?"

"Pika," Pikachu nodded in affirmation.

"And I'll take these back to Brock," Misty said as she picked up the remaining beer cans. She leaned over and kissed Ash gently on the cheek.

"I'll always be here for you, Ash. If you want to talk some more, you know where to find me." She slowly walked away as Ash fell into a drunken slumber and started snoring. Pikachu curled up on his chest and stayed with his friend as he slept.

---

"Delia, what is it?" Professor Oak was alarmed when he saw her distraught face on the telephone's video screen.

"Ash knows. He found out this afternoon. I told him everything…you, me, him." She started crying again. Between gasps, she blurted out the rest of her message: "He ran off and got drunk. Misty found him. He's asleep upstairs now."

"I'll be right over, Delia," he said as he scrambled to his feet and shut off the computer that he was working on.

"No, Samuel. Let him sleep now." Delia sniffed and wiped her eyes. "I don't think it's a good idea for you to come over right now. Wait until he calms down. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Are you sure you're going to be all right, Delia?" It broke his heart to see her so upset, particularly when he knew that he was the ultimate cause of her pain.

"I'll be okay. It's Ash that I'm worried about. Good night, Samuel," Delia said as she tried to regain her composure.

"I love you, Delia," he said as she hung up the phone.

Professor Oak sat staring at the blank screen, feeling as if someone had drained the life out of him. He knew that one day they would have had to tell Ash the truth about his parentage, but he was hoping that day wouldn't come for another year or two. But now it was here, and he would have to face it.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning Ash woke up with a pounding headache. He had never been drunk before, and he wasn't thrilled with the aftereffects. He slowly wandered downstairs to the kitchen where his mother was fixing breakfast. The smell of frying bacon didn't exactly do wonders for his appetite. Ash hoped he wouldn't throw up on the table when his mother sat a plate of eggs and bacon in front of him.

"Good morning, dear," his mother said nervously. "How do you feel?"

"Kinda wiped out," Ash replied as he fought the nausea rising in his throat. "Do we have any aspirin?"

Delia poured out two tablets from the bottle in the cupboard and sat them next to her son's plate along with a glass of water.

"Thanks, Mom," Ash said as he swallowed the pills. 

"Your father wants to talk to you," Delia said quietly as she sat down across from her son.

"Which one?" Ash retorted.

Delia cringed. "Ash, I know it must seem as if I've been lying to you all these years…"

"Lying? Lying?" Ash winced. Raising his voice had made the pounding in his head worse. Ash continued in a quieter, yet still angry, tone. "All these years you've been telling me that Will Ketchum was my father…"

"Now wait a second, Ash," Delia interrupted. "If you recall, I never once told you that Will Ketchum was your father. Whenever you asked me about your father, I always told you the truth; I said that he used to be a Pokémon trainer and the reason that he couldn't be with us was because he was off studying and taking care of Pokémon. You know as well as I do that Professor Oak used to be a Pokémon trainer when he was younger. And yesterday I told you the reason why we couldn't be together."

Ash didn't say anything. He had to admit that his mother was right.

"And if you also recall, I always told you that even though your father couldn't be with us, he still loved you very much. And he does, Ash. Professor Oak loves both of us. He's a good man, Ash. Unlike Will." 

Ash looked up in shock. "What?"

"Will and I got married right out of college. It was a whirlwind courtship, very romantic. I was crazy about him." She smiled at the memory. "We had been dating for only six weeks when he proposed. Being head over heels in love, I naturally accepted and we eloped a week later. Looking back now, I can't believe how naïve I was then." Her smile faded. "He married me when he was on the rebound from breaking up with his girlfriend. He did it just to get back at her. He never really loved me." Delia smiled sadly. "The sad part about it was that I loved him."

Ash felt sorry for his mother. 

"We had been married for a little over a month when his ex showed up and wanted him back, so he left me a 'Dear Delia' letter and took off. I haven't seen or heard from him since."

__

Wait a minute. With a sinking feeling, Ash realized something.

"If you haven't seen him since then, then he doesn't…doesn't know about…" Ash didn't think he could finish the rest of the sentence.

Delia leaned over and took her son's hand.

"Yes, Ash," she said quietly, "Will Ketchum doesn't know about you. He never really was part of your life even though you may have thought that way."

The man that he had believed was his father, the man he had idolized as a daring Pokémon trainer away on a long, exciting journey and had later grown to resent when he realized that he had abandoned them, didn't know that Ash even existed. Ash felt utterly betrayed…even his last name was a lie.

"But Professor Oak, your _real_ father," Delia continued, "was always a part of your life, even though under the circumstances he could never tell you that he was your father. He was with me when you were born, bought us this house…" 

"This house? Our home? Professor Oak bought it?" Ash interrupted, surprised by this new piece of information.

"Yes, and who do you think sent you those presents every year on your birthday?" 

"You said Dad did…ohhh," Ash suddenly realized now which 'Dad' she meant.

"Whenever you were sick, I'd always ask him to stop by and bring one of the Pokémon from his lab to cheer you up."

Ash remembered when he was four and had a nasty case of the chicken pox. Professor Oak had stopped by with a Bellsprout that Ash ended up playing with for days until he was better.

"I also believe you learned to ride your bike at his house, didn't you?"

When he and Gary were six, Professor Oak had mentioned that he was teaching Gary how to ride his bike and wanted to know if Ash was interested in learning along with his grandson. Ash ended up learning how to ride long before Gary did.

"And do you remember when you broke your arm at his place?"

When both boys were eight, Gary had dared him to get on the back of the Rhyhorn that lived in the rock Pokémon preserve at the Oak lab. Ash stayed on the wild Pokémon's back for three seconds before being thrown violently to the ground. Professor Oak showed up in time to recall the wild Rhyhorn and save Ash from being trampled. Professor Oak had stayed with him, holding him while he cried from the pain of the broken arm, and even went with him to the hospital. 

"And what about the birds-and-the-bees talk?"

"Mom…" Ash cringed as his face turned red. When he was eleven, his mom had asked Professor Oak to talk to him about puberty. Ash wasn't thrilled with the idea at first, but Delia had insisted that this was something that was best handled man-to-man. Despite the initial awkwardness, they had actually had a rather meaningful conversation about "girls and stuff" as Ash had put it.

__

All along the guy that I thought was our neighbor, our friend, was really my father. And I never knew it.

"Go see him," Delia urged. "I think the two of you need to sit down and have a long talk."

__

After I get rid of this hangover, thought Ash. Between that and learning the truth about his dad, he still felt pretty lousy.


	4. Chapter 4

Ash stood nervously on Professor Oak's doorstep and rang the doorbell. 

"Hello, Ash," Professor Oak said awkwardly as he answered the door. He was just as nervous as Ash was, unsure if his son would either embrace him or punch him in the nose.

Ash did neither. He just stood there, looking around uncomfortably.

"Um, won't you come in and sit down?" Professor Oak finally blurted out, breaking the awkward silence. "Let me run back and finish what I was doing on the computer and I'll join you."

Ash wandered back to the living room and was trying to decide whether to sit down or stay standing when he saw a bunch of pictures scattered on the coffee table. Ash picked up the one on the top of the pile and studied it. It was a picture of a rather young-looking Professor Oak, but from the nose up the resemblance to Ash was uncanny.

"That's a picture of me when I was in college, not much older than you." Professor Oak had come into the room and was standing behind Ash. "The resemblance is definitely there," he said, studying Ash's face. "And believe it or not, long ago my hair was almost the same color as yours."

Ash didn't say anything, but continued to study the picture as he unconsciously ran a hand through his dark hair. 

"If you're still not convinced, we can always do a DNA test. I do have the capability here at the lab, you know," he said with a slight smile.

"Uh, no, Professor… jeez, I don't even know what to call you now," Ash said as he flopped down on the couch opposite Professor Oak.

"Professor Oak is fine. Whatever you're comfortable with," he said as he offered Ash a cup of tea.

Ash took the cup and slowly sipped the tea. His stomach was still upset from last night's drinking binge and the hot tea was rather soothing.

"Look, Ash," Professor Oak began, "I'm sure your mother has already told you what happened between us. If you'll let me, I'd like to tell you my side of the story."

"Okay," Ash said quietly.

"When your mother started working here at the lab," he began, "she had just received her degree in Pokémon botany and wanted to do her master's degree research here. It's unusual for me to have female researchers around; you know as well as I do that most of them choose to go to Professor Ivy's lab at Valencia Island."

Ash nodded. He had been to Professor Ivy's lab and it was completely staffed by females.

"Anyway, your mother thought that this lab had better gardens and facilities to study grass-type Pokémon, so she ended up here. I'll admit that it was hard for me not to notice her; your mother was young, bright, and very pretty. I'll also admit that I was a bit lonely at the time. My wife had died of cancer the year before."

He flipped through the stack of pictures on the table and handed one to Ash.

"Her name was Rose. Even now I still miss her," Professor Oak said with a sad smile.

Ash thought the pretty, petite red-haired woman had a nice smile. She looked like a friendly person.

Professor Oak continued. "But I knew that your mother was off-limits because she was married, so I just admired her from a distance." His face clouded. "A few days after Delia started working here, I found her crying in the garden one afternoon. Apparently she had walked in on her husband and his ex-girlfriend in bed together."

Ash looked up from the picture, horrified. His mother had never told him that.

Professor Oak saw the expression on Ash's face. "Ash, I'm so sorry," he said gently. "I thought Delia had told you everything that had happened."

"Not that," Ash said in a strained voice.

"Are you all right, Ash?" Professor Oak asked with concern. Ash didn't look so good.

"Yeah, I just…didn't know," Ash said weakly. He was imagining how terrible it must've been for his mom to see what she did that day. 

"Needless to say, your mother was devastated. If I'm guilty of doing anything that day, Ash, it was holding her while she cried on my shoulder. Even though we hadn't been working together that long, I was touched that she trusted me enough to tell me what had happened."

Ash nodded in agreement. His mother was a trusting person. Perhaps a little too trusting.

"Shortly thereafter, her husband left her. Since Delia couldn't afford the apartment where they were staying on just her salary, she didn't have anywhere to go. I offered her the apartment that I keep over the lab for visiting researchers and graduate students. In exchange for room and board, she would be the caretaker of the Pokémon at the lab on nights and weekends. I felt sorry for your mother, but I will admit that I had did have a selfish motive in mind when I offered her the apartment."

"What?" Ash said suspiciously.

"Your mother is a very bright, attractive woman, Ash," Professor Oak said with a smile. "I enjoyed having her around, talking to her. Perhaps I did take advantage of the situation by offering to let her stay here. But I really did need someone to help me out with the Pokémon at the time since my lab was woefully understaffed then."

Ash understood that. Sometimes it seemed as if there were Pokémon everywhere underfoot at the lab, even now.

"I scared your mother to death the first night she was here," he said with a mischievous grin. " I had forgotten to tell her that I often work late whenever I have a particularly interesting bit of research that I can't tear myself away from. She heard me downstairs and must've thought I was a burglar. She nearly took my head off with a baseball bat."

Ash laughed. "Mom did that?"

"Yes. Don't ever scare your mother when she's holding a baseball bat," he said as he refilled Ash's cup with more tea. "Fortunately, she missed me but ended up destroying my computer." Professor Oak chuckled and leaned back on the couch. The funny story had eased some of the tension between him and Ash.

"We ended up spending the rest of that night trying to fix my computer and just talking. Your mother was eager to learn more about the various types of Pokémon, not just the grass-type ones that were her specialty. We must've stayed up until about four in the morning talking about Pokémon. And that's all we did that night, Ash." He was careful to stress the "all" in the last sentence. He could tell that Ash didn't exactly believe him. 

"We became good friends, your mother and I. We got along together well."

__

Yeah, a little too well, thought Ash. _That's how I got here._

Professor Oak was silent for a moment. He was trying to decide how best to phrase the next part of his story without upsetting Ash too much.

"I began to develop feelings for your mother. Feelings that were more than just those of a good working relationship."

Ash frowned. 

"But I knew that since I was her boss, I could never act on them. Still, it was almost impossible for me to ignore what I felt."


	5. Chapter 5

He would catch himself staring at her sometimes: wondering what it would be like to hold her, kiss her, touch her…then immediately feel guilty for thinking such things. He was still struggling with his feelings for her that one late afternoon in mid-autumn when the two of them finally gave into their mutual desire. An innocent kiss on the hand by a sympathetic Delia quickly led to a kiss on the lips, and another, and another. Then he couldn't fight what he felt any longer.

---

The next morning, Samuel groggily opened his eyes and found himself staring into Delia's face. She lay beside him, sound asleep with a smile on her face.

The shock of seeing her there next to him in his bed quickly brought him to his senses. 

__

Oh my God, what have I done?

Then he remembered.

Kissing her under the tree in the yard, being barely able to make it back to the house before being consumed with lust for her and her body…

__

Had it really been lust? Perhaps at the time it had been, but as he watched her sleep he realized that there was something else he felt for her other than just lust. 

But last night when she had kissed him and pressed her warm, soft body against his, all he could think about was touching her, holding her, making love to her. He remembered how she had trembled with pleasure when he had first slipped his hand inside her sweater.

Then he was overcome by a wave of guilt. 

__

Samuel, you desperate, pathetic, miserable excuse for a man. You let yourself lose control and now see what's happened? You've bedded one of your own students.

Being careful not to wake Delia, he got out of bed. He had to attend to the Pokémon, but he also needed to get away from the whole scene and clear his head. 

She was waiting for him at the kitchen table when he returned an hour later. 

"Hello, Samuel," Delia said with a smile. "How did you sleep last night?"

She was wearing one of his lab coats and her hair was loose, falling in soft waves about her shoulders. As she leaned forward to hand him a cup of tea, he saw that the top button on the coat she was wearing was undone, revealing that she was wearing nothing underneath. He felt desire rising for her again, but quickly suppressed it. He wasn't going to make the same mistake again.

"Delia, we need to talk about what happened last night," his face was serious.

"All right," she said as her smile faded. The expression on his face worried her.

He took a long sip of his tea while he thought about what he was going to say to her. This wasn't going to be easy for either one of them.

"First, I want to apologize for what happened between us last night. It was inexcusable. I took advantage of you and there's no excuse for what I did. I don't think I'm ever going to be able to forgive myself for what I've done."

"Wait a second, Samuel," she interrupted. "I was the one who came on to you, remember? You didn't seduce me; it was the other way around."

"That's not the point. I let myself lose control and took advantage of you."

"As I recall, what happened between us was a mutual decision."

Maybe that part was true, but it still didn't make it right.

"Delia, I'm your boss, your teacher. You work for me."

"You may be my boss, Samuel, but you're also my friend. You've done so much for me these past few months: you took me in when Will left me, let me cry on your shoulder, taught me so much about Pokémon, encouraged me to conduct my own research, listened to me whenever I had a problem. You're a good man, Samuel. A kind man." She reached across the table and took his hand. "And last night when we were together, you were so wonderful…just like I imagined you would be."

"You…imagined us together?" He was stunned. After all, he wasn't the type of man that women normally fantasized about.

"Yes. For a while I've wondered what it would be like for us to be together. Sometimes when we were working together in the lab, I'd fight the urge to reach out and touch your hand or sit close enough to you that maybe our shoulders or legs would be touching." She was blushing as she spoke.

All this time she had been feeling the same way about him as he had about her, and he had never known it until now.

"I love you, Samuel." She leaned over and kissed him.

"I love you, too, Delia." He kissed her back, and this time he didn't care if he lost control.


	6. Chapter 6

Professor Oak looked at his watch and frowned. It was almost nine-thirty and Delia still hadn't shown up for work. She was usually the first one up in the morning, but lately she had gotten into the habit of oversleeping and had even fallen asleep at her workstation yesterday. He went upstairs to her apartment and knocked on the door.

"Delia? Are you in?"

He was shocked by her appearance when she answered the door. She was deathly pale and still in her bathrobe.

"Samuel, I'm so sorry I'm late for work," she said apologetically in a weak voice. "I've been throwing up all morning…must have a stomach bug." She slumped against the door frame, looking as if she would faint at any minute.

He took her by the arm and led her back to bed. 

"Delia, don't worry about work," he said as he tucked the blankets under her chin. She was shivering from weakness and the nausea. "You just rest and let me worry about you." As her eyes closed while he gently stroked her hair, something about her appearance triggered a troubling memory.

__

Rose.

This was exactly how the cancer had started with Rose. She had complained for weeks about being tired all the time, then she started getting sick. By the time she went to the doctor, it was too late. The cancer was to the point where it was inoperable, terminal.

Lying there, Delia looked just like Rose had shortly before she died.

"Delia," he said quietly, not wanting to alarm her. "Maybe you need to see a doctor."

Her eyes slowly opened.

"No, Samuel, I'm okay. It's just a flu bug or something."

"Please, Delia, for my sake. I'd feel better if I knew for sure that you're all right." He didn't want to tell her about Rose.

"Okay." She nodded and closed her eyes again.

"Rest now." He leaned over and kissed her forehead. "I'll check on you again at lunch and after work."

When he went up to her room at lunchtime, he found a note saying that she was feeling a little better and had taken his advice and gone to her doctor. After he had finished gathering up the Pokémon at the end of the day, he went back upstairs to her room. The door was slightly ajar and he could hear her crying.

"Delia?" She was lying face down on the bed, sobbing. "Delia, what is it?" He gently touched her shoulder to let her know that he was there. She lifted her head and turned her red, tear-stained face to him. She had been crying for hours.

"I…I…went to the doctor," she gasped between sobs.

Fear gripped his heart. He had already buried one woman that he loved and he didn't think he would be able to survive losing her, too.

"Delia, what did the doctor say? Tell me." He was starting to get frightened. 

"She…oh, Samuel…she…"

"She what? Tell me what she said!" He was starting to panic. If Delia was this upset, then the diagnosis must've been something truly awful.

"Samuel, I'm….I'm _pregnant_," Delia wailed as fresh tears started to form.

A wave of relief swept over him. She didn't have cancer! Then the realization of what she had said sunk in.

"Pregnant?" he said in disbelief. "You're _pregnant_?"

"Oh, Samuel," Delia sobbed. "What are we going to do?"

He sat down on the edge of the bed and took her in his arms as she cried. 

"Shh, Delia. Everything will be all right," he said as he stroked her hair and rocked her.

When Rose had died, he had consigned himself to the fact that he was going to be alone for the rest of his life. At his age, it was much too late for him to start over. But now, here it was a little over a year later and he had a new love, a precious new life…a second chance at happiness. And he wasn't going to let it slip away. Rose's death had taught him that you had to cherish those you loved because you never knew when they might be taken from you. And as he looked down at Delia, there was no doubt in his mind what he wanted.

"Marry me, Delia," he whispered in her hair as he kissed the top of her head.

"What?" She looked up at him in disbelief.

"Marry me. I love you and our child, and I'm going to take care of both of you. I want you to marry me."

"Oh, Samuel," she cried. "It's not that simple." She had been thinking about that, too.

---

"Ash, when your mother told me that she was pregnant with you, I was excited, happy, but I'll also admit that I was also a bit scared."

"Scared?"

"Yes, the prospect of being a father again was a little bit daunting," Professor Oak said with a nervous grin. "I was also worried about your mother, especially since she was so sick. Turns out she was worried about me, too." He hesitated for a moment. "You see, Ash, there was another issue that we had to deal with."

"What?"

Professor Oak took a deep breath. This part was something he didn't enjoy discussing because he wasn't particularly proud of what he had done.

"Even though what happened between your mother and me was consensual, it still didn't change the fact that I had abused my position of authority by sleeping with one of my students. I am guilty of that, Ash. But I was fully prepared to deal with the consequences of my actions. I was going to quit my job, resign my teaching position at Celadon U."

"But why didn't you?" Ash knew that Professor Oak was still teaching at Celadon University. Ash had been looking forward to taking some of his classes next year if he got accepted there.

--- 

"Delia, what do you mean?"

She slowly pulled away from his embrace to face him. "I mean I can't marry you, Samuel."

The sight of his stricken face nearly broke her heart. "But why, Delia?" 

"Because, Samuel, if we do get married, pretty soon everyone will know why," she said quietly as she laid a hand on her abdomen. "And you know what will happen then. Can you imagine what people will say when they see the headline 'Famous Pokémon Researcher Involved in Sex Scandal with Student'?"

"Delia, if that's what you're worried about, then I can take care of that right now. I'm going to go downstairs right now and write a letter to the chancellor of Celadon University resigning my teaching position." As he hopped off of the bed, Delia frantically grabbed his arm.

"Samuel, no! If you do that, then I really will be responsible for destroying your career. And I can't live with knowing that because of me you can never teach again, can never work with Pokémon again, having people say terrible things about you. Please, Samuel. I'm begging you. Don't." She was clutching his arm so tightly that her fingernails were digging into his skin.

"All right, Delia. I won't say anything." He sat back down on the bed next to her and took her hand in his. "But I still want to marry you."

"Samuel, would you be asking me to marry you now if I weren't pregnant?"

He hesitated for a moment. "Delia, I…"

She cut him off. "Never mind, Samuel. Don't feel as if you have to marry me because you have to." His hesitation had told her exactly what she wanted to know. "I don't want another short-term marriage. I can't handle going through that again."

"Delia, I would _never_ do to you what Will did! You have to believe me!" he pleaded desperately as he clutched her hand.

"It's not that, Samuel. I want a husband who married me out of love, not obligation. It's not fair to me, to you, or to our child."

"But Delia, I _do_ love you! What more can I do to convince you of that? To hell with my career! I'd gladly give it up to be with you."

"And I just told you why you can't do that." She laid back down on the bed and buried her face in her pillow. "I think you'd better go. I just want to be alone now." The entire day -- throwing up all morning, learning that she was pregnant, crying all afternoon, and now the disappointment in learning that Samuel really didn't want to marry her – had left her drained. All she wanted to do now was cry herself to sleep.

"I'm not leaving you, Delia. Not when you're this upset. It's not good for you or the baby. Please let me stay here with you. Please," he pleaded as he started stroking her hair.

With a sarcastic laugh, she lifted her head. "But that's how we got into this situation in the first place! Oh, why weren't we more careful? Why?" She put her face back into her pillow and started weeping hysterically.

__

But we were careful, he thought as the entire bed started shaking from her sobbing. _Except…_

Except, he realized, for the first time they had made love. That evening under the tree when they had lost control.

__

That must've been when it happened.

"Delia, please don't cry," he begged as tried desperately to calm her down. "You're going to make yourself sick again. You've got to think of yourself and the baby now." 

As if on cue, Delia's head shot up and she began to gag. "Oh no."

He held her as she retched in the wastebasket next to her bed, but there was nothing left in her stomach to throw up. Between being sick in the morning and being upset in the afternoon, she hadn't eaten anything the entire day. When she stopped heaving, she collapsed limply on the bed.

He was frightened by how pale she was. "That's it, I'm calling the doctor." He reached for the telephone on the nightstand.

"No, Samuel," she said weakly as she reached for his arm. "I just want to sleep now." 

"And I'm staying here with you," he said as he laid down next to her and pulled the comforter over both of them. As he held her in his arms, her eyes closed and her breathing slowed until Samuel was certain that she was asleep. 

__

Oh, Delia, forgive me, he thought as he tenderly kissed her forehead. _This is all my fault._

---

"You mean _Mom_ was the one who didn't want to get married?" Ash had assumed that Professor Oak was the one who didn't want them to be together.

"Yes, Ash. And I can't say that I blame her, given everything that happened."

"But Mom wasn't responsible for what happened."

"I know she wasn't, Ash. But people can be cruel. There would've been a huge scandal if people found out what happened between us. People would've said some pretty nasty things about me, Ash. But they also would've said some pretty nasty things about your mother as well. Unfortunately, it works both ways." Professor Oak sighed. "I can handle being called lecherous, a dirty old man, a cradle-robber, and worse…but I never would've been able to tolerate people saying that your mother slept with me just to get me to hire her, left her husband because of me, used her body to influence me, deliberately got pregnant so I'd marry her." Professor Oak's jaw clenched tightly. "I would've killed the first person who dared to say that your mother was a…well, you know. It was never like that at all, Ash." 

Ash sat there silently for a moment, deliberating what Professor Oak had said. Then the realization hit him.

__

It's all **my** fault. 

Professor Oak noticed the change in expression on Ash's face, and he didn't like what he saw.

"Ash, what is it?" he asked with concern.

"It's _my_ fault," Ash said in a quiet trembling voice. "You guys didn't even plan on having me in the first place, and I would've ruined Mom's reputation, your career. I'm the reason why you can't even be together." Ash looked ready to cry.

Professor Oak felt his heart sink. The last thing he had wanted to do was make Ash feel as if he had been the one to blame for everything that had happened.

"No, Ash, no," he desperately tried to reassure his son.

Ash felt the tears starting in his eyes. "If I was a….a _mistake_," Ash choked on the words, "then why didn't you just…just get rid of…" Ash buried his head in his hands.

"Ash, listen to me," Professor Oak said as his near-grown son cried like the abandoned child he really was inside. The man he had thought was his father had never known he had existed, and his real father apparently had never even wanted him in the first place. 

"Ash, look at me," Professor Oak ordered. "Look at me." 

Ash raised his tear-stained face. 

Professor Oak looked directly into Ash's eyes. "Ash, don't _ever_ think for one second that you were a mistake. Your mother and I loved you, and we loved each other. You were conceived out of that love. We not once, _not ever_ considered getting rid of you."

Ash swallowed hard. 

"Ash, you were the innocent one in all this," Professor Oak continued gently. "Don't ever think that you were to blame for anything that we did."

Ash sniffled and wiped his nose on the arm of his shirt. 

"I loved your mother, Ash. I still do. I wanted more than anything for us to be together. But we both knew that was impossible, given the circumstances. The day after we found out that your mother was pregnant, she had a run-in with a wild Tauros and ended up in the hospital. Fortunately she was all right, but I was terrified because I nearly ended up losing both of you that day. Do you remember Professor Hale?"

"Sure." Professor Hale was an old friend of the family. Once in a while he and his family would stop by to visit him and his mom.

"He was working as a graduate student at my lab at the time. He saved your mother's life by keeping the Tauros away from her. Nearly got his arm ripped off in the process, too."

"Mom never told me about that. Did Professor Hale know about you two?"

"Yes, Ash. Even though he never admitted it, I still believe that's the reason he left my lab shortly thereafter. He was fond of your mother, you know."

Ash was surprised at this piece of news. "No, I didn't know." Now Ash understood why his mom kept those old pictures of Professor Hale and them on the refrigerator.

--- 

Professor Oak stuck his head inside the hospital room. "Delia?"

"Samuel?" She was lying in bed with an IV in her arm.

"I just spoke with the doctor. He said that except for being slightly dehydrated, you're going to be all right."

"And the baby?" she asked fearfully. When she was admitted to the hospital, she had been told that she had fainted and fallen off of the fence surrounding the corral where the Tauros lived. Delia had been afraid that something had happened to the baby.

He took her hand. "The baby's fine, too."

"Thank God," she said, relieved. "I was so afraid that when I fell…that the baby…" She brushed away a tear.

"Delia, that's something we need to talk about. You can't continue to work around the Pokémon in your condition. It's too dangerous."

"But the reason you let me have the apartment over the lab was in return for being the after-hours caretaker of the Pokémon."

"I know. You can still live in the apartment, but I'm not going to let you near any of the wild Pokémon. I'm not going to take a chance of something happening to you or our child. I almost lost both of you today."

Delia was silent for a moment. "Then I can't stay in the apartment anymore."

"What? Delia, I just told you that you could…"

"No, Samuel," she insisted. "I'm not going to stay there without paying my way. And since I can't work for you anymore, then I can't stay. Besides, I think it would be a good idea if I left, anyway. Once it becomes obvious that I'm pregnant, people will start to get suspicious."

He opened his mouth to protest, but then realized that she was right. 

"But what about your research? Your thesis?"

"I think my thesis is on indefinite hold," she said, looking down at her stomach. "All the more reason why I can't continue to stay at your place."

"But where will you go?"

"I'll figure something out. But right now, I want to get some rest. I'm still kind of woozy." As she laid back on her pillow he tucked the blanket around her chin. "How's Spencer?"

"The doctors are still sewing up that gash in his arm. I'm going to go back downstairs now and check on him. Meanwhile," he kissed her forehead, "you get some sleep." 

Once outside in the hallway, he slammed his fist into the wall.

__

Damn it, it's not fair! She won't marry me and now she's going to move out. I'm losing her. Losing her and our child.

Well, he was going to find a way to keep that from happening. Even if he had to stay up every night for a year, he was going to come up with a way to keep from losing her.

---

"Samuel, where in the world are you taking me? Can I open my eyes yet?" 

"Wait, we're almost there. Okay, now you can open them." 

Delia opened her eyes and saw that she was standing in the yard of a pretty, little white house, complete with white picket fence.

"What's this?" she said with amazement.

"Even though Christmas isn't for a couple of weeks, I thought I'd give you my present a little bit early. Do you like it?"

Delia was incredulous. "It's lovely, but there's no way that I can afford to stay here."

"You don't have to. It's completely paid for. It's yours." He handed her the key.

"Samuel, I can't accept this! I can't live off of your charity. No." She handed the key back to him, but he wouldn't take it.

"Delia, if you won't marry me, at least let me take care of you and our child. The baby is mine too, and I want to provide for him or her. Which brings me to another topic." He handed her a piece of paper.

"What's this?"

"It's the papers setting up a trust fund for our child. Naturally, you'll be in charge of administering how the money is spent, but there's more than enough there so that you wouldn't have to worry about working if you didn't want to."

Delia's jaw dropped when she saw how much money was in the account. "Oh my God! Where…how…?"

"I inherited quite a bit of money when my grandfather died. He owned most of the land around Pallet Town."

Delia re-read the statement over and over. She couldn't believe how many zeroes there were after the first number in the total. "I…I can't…"

"Delia, please let me do this. I want to be part of our child's life. I also still want to be a part of yours, if you'll let me."

"Thank you, Samuel. Thank you for everything." She threw her arms around him. 

"You don't know how long I've been waiting for you to hold me like that again," he sighed as he wrapped his arms around her. "Do you think that maybe…we could…" They hadn't made love since learning that Delia was pregnant. 

"Well, seeing that I don't have to worry about getting pregnant now," she said with a tiny smile, "I think that perhaps we can try."

Together they went into the little house and shut the door.


	7. Chapter 7

Samuel had stopped by to visit Delia during lunch, as he did almost every day. And, as usual, he found her working in her vegetable garden tending to the tomatoes and cucumbers. She was eight and a half months pregnant then and having a hard time getting around. The August heat also added significantly to her discomfort.

__

I feel like a Snorlax, she thought as she tried to reach around her belly to get to a tomato hidden on one of the back vines.

But Samuel had a different opinion as he watched her.

__

She's so beautiful.

She was humming a little tune to herself, as she often did when she was enjoying something. Suddenly, she stopped humming and grimaced as she laid a hand on her rounded abdomen.

Samuel quickly hopped off his bike and ran to her side. "What's wrong, Delia? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Samuel," she smiled. "The baby just kicked." She laid his hand on top of her belly where she had felt the baby squirming. The baby kicked again, harder this time. "There."

He grinned. "Feels like he's ready to come out, doesn't he?" Their child was due in a week.

"I'll be glad when he does. This heat is killing me," Delia said as she fanned herself with the broad brim of her hat.

"You don't need to be outside in this," he said as he led her back inside the house. "Have you thought about my offer some more?"

"Yes, and I'm not going to move in with you," she said as she sat down at the kitchen table.

"But why not, Delia?" he said as he poured her a glass of lemonade. "I'm worried about you being alone in this house, especially with the baby due in just a few days."

"Samuel, you worry too much. I've told you that I'll call if anything happens. And you do have your pager on, don't you?"

He lifted his lab coat. "I even sleep with it on."

Delia winced again. "My back's killing me. It's getting harder and harder to work in the garden, as big as I am."

Samuel smiled as he ran his hands down her curvaceous body. "I like how you look. Very voluptuous."

Delia rolled her eyes and rubbed her aching back. "I think I'm going to go lie down for a while."

"Do you want me to lie down with you?" he said hopefully as he helped her to her feet.

"Samuel, you know that making love can bring on labor."

"But I thought you wanted the baby to come out."

"Nice try, Samuel," she said with a smile as she pushed him out the door. "I'll be fine. I'll call you if anything happens."

He didn't have to wait long. Later that evening, the harsh ringing of the telephone jarred him out of a sound sleep.

"Hello?" he murmured, half-asleep.

"Samuel?" It was Delia. "I think the baby's coming. My back's been hurting all night and now the pain's getting really bad."

__

Oh my God! 

The shock of what she had just said snapped him fully awake, and the resulting adrenaline rush caused him to jump straight out of bed.

"Delia, I'll be right there! Just hold on!" he shouted into the receiver, then quickly slammed it down. He had no time to lose in getting over there. The baby was coming!

Wait, he had to get dressed first! Even though it was a warm evening, he couldn't show up at her house, much less the hospital, in just a pair of boxer shorts. He quickly pulled on a pair of pants and shirt and bolted down the stairs, nearly falling down the last three ones in his haste to get to her house. He rushed outside to his car and tried to open the door.

"Why won't this stupid door open?" he cursed. He then realized he was trying to open the car door with his house keys. He quickly found the right key and yanked open the door. 

Unfortunately, he opened the door so fast that it shot back and hit him squarely in the left eye. Shouting expletives, he dropped the keys on the ground and ended up wasting several seconds hunting for them in the dark. After locating them, he jumped into the driver's seat, threw the car into reverse, and backed into the tree next to the driveway, crushing the right tail light. 

By the time he reached Delia's house (which was only two minutes away), his eye was rapidly swelling and turning black and blue.

"Samuel, what in the world happened to your eye?" she exclaimed as she answered the door.

"Never mind that," he gasped, "are you all right?"

"My water just broke a couple of minutes ago and I've been trying to clean up the floor…"

"Don't worry about that!" he shouted as he grabbed her arm and dragged her to the car. "We've got to get you to the hospital now!"

"Samuel, what happened to the car? It didn't have a broken tail light yesterday."

"Get in! No time for that now!" He had opened the car door and was trying to shove her into the passenger seat.

She turned around to face him. "I'll go with you if you promise me two things. One, that you won't get us killed on the way to the hospital, and two, that you'll have that eye looked at when we get there. People are going to think that I hit you on the way over."

Once at the hospital, Delia was whisked away to the birthing rooms. Refusing treatment for his eye (which by now was purple and nearly swollen shut), Professor Oak stopped at the nurses' station to find which room she was in.

"Excuse me," he asked the nurse, "which room is Delia Ketchum in?"

"Fill these out," the nurse responded without even looking up from her computer. She handed him a huge stack of insurance forms.

He didn't have time for that! 

He repeated his question, and this time the nurse looked up from her computer.

"Oh, Professor Oak!" she smiled. "What are you doing here? And what happened to your eye?"

"Mr. Ketchum asked me to look in on his wife while he was away on his Pokémon journey." A lie, but one he had been using for months to throw off suspicion about the baby's true paternity. "Which room is she in?" 

"Room 2," she said as he started down the hall. "Hey, wait! You can't go in there!"

He froze in his tracks. "Why not?"

"Hospital rules state that only the baby's father, relatives, or the mother's labor coach are allowed in rooms during delivery."

__

But I'm the baby's father! 

But, of course, he couldn't tell her that. He had to get in that room somehow. "But that's me…I'm Mrs. Ketchum's labor coach," he lied.

The nurse gave him a funny look.

"You see, since I've been present at multiple Pokémon births, Mr. Ketchum thought that I would be the perfect choice to help his wife out during her labor while he was away," he said nervously.

The nurse gave him a look that clearly said that she didn't believe a word he was saying, but she decided to give him a break. After all, the poor man had somehow ended up with a black eye trying to get over here.

"All right, go on then." He was already opening the door to Delia's room by the time the nurse had finished speaking.

The obstetrician looked up from the foot of Delia's bed.

"Hello, Professor Oak," she smiled in recognition. "What are you doing here? I thought Pokémon babies were your specialty, not human ones. And what happened to your eye?"

He wished people would stop asking him about his eye.

"I'm Mrs. Ketchum's labor coach."

The doctor gave him the same look that the nurse had given him moments earlier. 

"Oh….here comes another one," moaned Delia. Samuel rushed to her side and took her hand.

"I'm here, De….Mrs. Ketchum."

Her face contorted in pain as the next contraction started. They were coming faster and faster now.

"Breathe," said the nurse standing behind him.

__

Huh? He was breathing. What was the nurse talking about?

"Tell her to breathe," the nurse ordered. "You're her labor coach, tell her to do her breathing exercises."

Professor Oak panicked. What in the world had he done? He didn't know the first thing about being a labor coach. Matter of fact, he had never actually been in a delivery room before. And Pokémon didn't usually have difficult labors; most of them were hatched from eggs, so there was really nothing for him to go on there.

The pain of her crushing his hand brought him back to his senses.

"Please give me something for the pain…anything," she moaned as the contraction subsided.

"Sorry, Mrs. Ketchum, you're too far along for that now. It won't do any good," said the obstetrician briskly as she readied the delivery instruments. "But we're now to the point where if you give me a couple of good pushes when the next contraction starts, this baby will be here shortly."

"Did you hear that, Mrs. Ketchum?" Samuel said excitedly. "The baby's almost here! Speaking for the baby's father, I know that he'll be thrilled to see his child."

Delia smiled weakly at him. She understood exactly what he meant. Then her face contorted again and she gripped his hand.

"Okay, Mrs. Ketchum…push!" ordered the doctor.

Delia sat up and pushed as hard as she could. Sweat rolled down her forehead and into her eyes. 

"Great, Mrs. Ketchum! Here's the baby's head! Looks like he or she has your husband's dark hair!"

"Did you hear that?" Samuel told Delia excitedly as he tried to peer around the bed to see what the baby looked like. 

"Okay, one more big push and we'll see if you have either a son or a daughter," said the doctor brightly.

"I can't…I'm so tired," Delia gasped. She couldn't take any more of the pain.

"Please, one more push, Mrs. Ketchum," Samuel urged her. "I'll be right here to help you."

She looked into his eyes and pushed as hard as she could.

"Congratulations, Mrs. Ketchum. It's a boy!" 

All three of them -- the baby, his mother, and his father -- were crying.

---

After everyone had left, Delia lay in bed and watched as Samuel fussed over their son. He was clearly smitten.

"The chin and mouth are yours, Delia, but the hair is definitely mine. And the eyes, hmm…I think they look like mine, too. Speaking of which," Samuel gently laid the baby in his basinette and replaced the ice pack on his injured eye.

Delia giggled weakly. "I wonder what everyone at the lab is going to say about your shiner?"

"I'll tell everyone that I got in the way of Primeape's fists. Which reminds me." He looked out the window and saw the sun coming up over the horizon. "I'm going to have to go back soon."

He sat down on the edge of her bed and kissed her. "I know we discussed names, but is there one that you think best suits him?"

Delia leaned over and gently stroked the baby's cheek. "Yes. I know the perfect name for him."

---

"_Ashley_? Your middle name is _Ashley_? But that's a _girl's_ name!" Ash was incredulous.

"Ashley is also a man's name. It was my grandfather's name, as a matter of fact. But for the reason you just mentioned, I convinced your mother that Ash would be a more suitable choice."

"Thanks, Professor Oak. I owe you one there."

Professor Oak took his wallet out of his back pocket, rummaged in it for a second until he found what he was looking for, then handed Ash a small snapshot.

"For obvious reasons, I don't show that picture to anyone."

Ash looked at the picture. It was the same one that he had found in the shoebox in his mother's room.

"As you grew up, Ash, I tried as much as I could to be there for you without arousing anyone's suspicion. I bought you presents for your birthday and Christmas and told your mother to tell you that they were from your father. When you were in school, I tried to go to all your school functions and sporting events; fortunately I had a built-in excuse because Gary was in your class. And I was so proud of you when your mother told me that you wanted to become a Pokémon Master. Although I was a bit concerned when you showed up at my lab in your pajamas."

Ash grinned. "Yeah, but if I hadn't got there late, then I wouldn't have got Pikachu. Oh yeah, that reminds me." During their entire conversation, Pikachu had been out back playing with the other Pokémon. "I'd better go see what he's up to." Ash quickly got up from the couch and suddenly felt dizzy. The emotional roller coaster of the last twenty-four hours: learning the truth about his family, the drinking binge and resulting hangover, coupled with a lousy night's sleep (he'd had nightmares all evening) and not having eaten any solid food since the previous afternoon had finally caught up with him. Ash felt his knees buckle.

Professor Oak saw his son stagger and leaped up from his couch. "Ash, are you all right?"

"I'm…feeling kinda…dizzy," Ash said in a weak voice.

Professor Oak saw the blood drain out of Ash's face and knew that his son was about to faint. He quickly grabbed Ash's arm and pulled him back down onto the couch.

"Put your head between your knees." Professor Oak ordered.

"What?" The ringing in Ash's ears was so loud that he could barely hear what Professor Oak was saying.

"Just do it!" Professor Oak grabbed Ash's head and shoved it down.


	8. Chapter 8

Ash lay on the couch with his head propped on a pillow. He didn't actually pass out, but had come close enough to frighten both of them. Professor Oak sat on the coffee table next to the couch, checking his son's pulse.

"Much better, Ash," he said with a satisfied smile. "I think you'll live." He replaced his son's arm under the blanket and tucked it around Ash's chin. "When was the last time you had anything to eat?"

The hangover had left him too sick to his stomach to eat anything that day, and he didn't think that the two aspirin he'd had that morning really counted as food. The only thing he remembered eating was the piece of bread he'd had the day before in his mother's kitchen. Ash looked at the clock on the wall and realized that he hadn't had anything to eat in over twenty-four hours.

"Um, yesterday. I had some bread when I got home yesterday afternoon. I didn't really eat anything this morning."

"I figured as much," Professor Oak said. "Your mother told me about what happened last night, and I didn't think you would've felt like eating when you got up this morning. Do you think you can handle some soup?"

"Sure. That sounds okay." Ash leaned back on the pillow and closed his eyes.

"Be back in a minute. I'll also check on Pikachu for you," Professor Oak said as he left the room.

Ash snuggled under the blanket. This was just like when he was sick when he was a little kid. His mom would prop him up on pillows on the couch, tuck him in under a soft blanket, and feed him soup. Except that instead of his mother taking care of him, it was now his father. It was kind of weird, but at the same time it was comforting.

"Pikachu and Heracross are in the backyard playing with Muk," Professor Oak announced as he came back into the room with a tray and a bowl of soup. "Although Muk can't get it through his head that playing tag does not mean jumping on everyone and body-slamming them. I'm going to have to get my lab coat cleaned again," he said as he examined the purple goo on his shoulder. "Here," he said, placing the tray on Ash's lap. "I may be a lousy cook, but it's hard for even me to screw up opening a can of soup."

Ash took a sip of the soup. Chicken noodle, just like his mom used to feed him.

"Be careful, it's still a bit hot. And don't try to eat too much too fast, or you'll get sick to your stomach."

__

Jeez, Professor Oak sounds just like my mother. Or father….

"I'll spare you the lecture on underage drinking, Ash," Professor Oak said as he sat on the coffee table and watched his son eat. "I think you've figured out for yourself that the aftereffects aren't too pleasant, are they?"

__

Gee whiz, the guy's been my father for twenty-four hours and he's already giving me a lecture.

"But I think I can understand why you did it, Ash. You felt hurt, betrayed, lied to, confused. Am I right?"

Ash nodded. 

"But now I hope you understand why your mother and I did what we did. Not that it makes lying about it and sneaking around behind everyone's back right." He sighed. "I get so tired of having to make up excuses every time your mother and I are together." 

Ash felt sorry for Professor Oak. All this time he never realized how hard it must've been for him to keep their secret all these years. 

"When you got a little bit older and started on your Pokémon journey, your mother and I were able to spend a little more time together. We would travel together to see how you were doing, always under the pretense that since we were neighbors that it would be easier to for us to carpool together. And now you know that I had an interest in you beyond that of a mentor-student relationship."

Professor Oak searched through the pile of pictures on the table and gave one to Ash.

"Remember this?"

It was a newspaper clipping on the results of the first Indigo League Pokémon Championship that Ash had competed in. Ash's placing in the top sixteen finalists had been big news for Pallet Town, meriting a front-page story in the local paper.

Ash was surprised. "You kept this?"

"Of course. I was so proud of you then. Still am." Ash handed him the article back. "Your mother and I were hoping that perhaps if you saw the two of us spending more time together that when we did finally tell you truth that it wouldn't be such a shock. That plan obviously didn't work."

Ash felt pretty foolish. All this time and he had never picked up on the idea that his mom and Professor Oak might be more than just friends.

Their conversation was interrupted by the ringing of the video telephone in the corner of the room.

"Better get that," Professor Oak said, standing up. "Finish the rest of your soup."

"Hello, Professor." It was Delia.

"Hello, Delia," he replied warmly.

"Is Ash still there?" she asked. "He said he was going to go over to your place so the two of you could talk."

"Psst!!" The noise came from the couch.

"Excuse me for a second, Delia," Professor Oak said, leaning over and turning around to look at Ash, who was frantically waving his arms and shaking his head.

"Don't tell my mom that I nearly passed out!" Ash said in a frantic whisper. "She'll make me stay in bed for a week!"

Samuel understood. Delia was a good mother, but she could sometimes be a bit overprotective when it came to her son. He nodded in agreement and turned his attention back to the video screen.

"Sorry about that. Ash wanted me to let you know that he's still here and that the two of us have had a rather productive dialogue."

"Well, when you're through, could you please send him home for dinner?" 

"Certainly. I'll talk to you later, Delia."

"Good-bye, Samuel. And bye, sweetie," she called out to Ash. "I'll see you at dinner."

__

I wish Mom would stop calling me that! I'm nearly an adult now. Ash rolled his eyes as Professor Oak hung up the phone. 

"Thanks," Ash said as Professor Oak returned to his spot on the coffee table. 

"How do you feel now, Ash? Do you think you can make it home all right?"

The soup had revitalized him. "I think so," Ash said as he slowly stood up.

"Are you sure? Your mother would kill both me and you if I let you go home and you passed out again on the way back," Professor Oak said, hovering close to Ash just in case his son started feeling dizzy again. 

"That's okay. I'll have Pikachu with me. I'll tell him to zap me with a Thundershock if I start going down again." Ash started for the back door to go get his Pokémon. "Thanks for the soup and stuff."

"You're welcome, Ash." Professor Oak hesitated for a moment. "Ash, I don't expect you to think of me as your father. I think both you and I know that it's too late for that. But I hope that you do know that under the circumstances I tried the best I could to be there for you. And I apologize for the times that I wasn't there for you. Even though you may never think of me as your father, you'll always be my son." He gently laid a hand on Ash's shoulder.

"Uh, thanks," Ash said awkwardly. Even though he had a better opinion of Professor Oak now than he did before their talk, he still wasn't ready to accept the man as his father just yet. "I'd better go." Ash turned and walked out the door.


	9. Chapter 9

Samuel tossed about in his bed. Unable to get comfortable, he opened his eyes and looked at the clock on the nightstand. It read 4:58 AM. After the previous day's events, he had been doing a lot of thinking – about Ash, about Delia, about their future. 

__

Might as well get up, he thought as he slid out of bed. He looked out the bedroom window and saw a light on in the little white house down the street.

__

Looks like Delia's up, too. 

Since he didn't have to attend to the Pokémon for a few hours, he decided to go for a walk, figuring that the crisp night air would help clear his mind of the thoughts that had prevented him from getting any sleep.

Delia was sitting in the kitchen sipping a cup of tea when she heard a faint tapping at the back door. Peering out the window, she was surprised to see Professor Oak shivering on her doorstep.

"Samuel? What are you doing here this time of the morning?" she asked as she opened the door.

"I couldn't sleep. I saw your light on and thought I'd take a chance that you might be up."

"Come inside. It's way too cold for you to be standing out there." Delia took his arm and pulled him into the warmth of the kitchen. "Let me get you a cup of hot tea."

"Thanks, that would be nice," Samuel said as he sat down at the kitchen table.

"So you couldn't sleep either, huh?" Delia commented as she poured him a cup of hot tea and handed it to him.

"No. Ever since Ash stopped by yesterday afternoon, I've been doing a lot of thinking. How is he, by the way?"

"He's fine. He ate almost everything in the kitchen last night. I'm going to have to go to the grocery store today." Delia sat down next to him. "So what have you been thinking about?"

"About you, me, Ash, everything. Now that he knows the truth, then perhaps it's time that we told everyone else, too. No more secrets."

"Samuel, you know we can't do that."

"I've been thinking about that, too. Delia, I've decided that I'm going to retire from teaching at Celadon U. at the end of this semester."

Delia was shocked. "Samuel, you can't do…"

"Before you say anything, Delia, I'm not doing it because of you. I've been mulling over the idea for a couple of years and now seems like the best time to do it."

"But what about your research?"

"Oh, I'll still run the lab. If Celadon University decides to stop sending me female research assistants as a result of what happened between us, then so be it. I'd hate to lose out on all that brainpower, but my loss will be Professor Ivy's gain. Besides, all this happened so long ago that it may not matter that much. We'll see."

"But don't you care what people will say about you?"

"No, Delia. I don't." 

__

And if anyone even dares to say anything bad about you, I'll kill them.

"Besides," he continued, "I think most of Pallet Town knows that there's something going on between us, anyway. It's no secret that we spend a lot of time together. So why don't we give them something to talk about?" He reached inside the pocket of his lab coat and handed her a small box. "I meant to give you that eighteen years ago."

Delia opened the box and gasped when she saw the diamond ring inside. "Samuel?"

"You told me that you didn't want me to marry you out of obligation. Well, since Ash will be an adult and off on his own next year and I'm not going to be teaching anymore, it looks like we'll be free of our obligations." He knelt down beside her and took her hands in his. "So Delia, will you marry me?"

"Oh, yes, Samuel! Yes!" 

After he slipped the ring on her trembling finger, she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him so hard that both of them fell to the floor.

"Oh, Samuel! Are you all right? How's your back?"

"I think it's all right," he said as he tried to stand up. "But I think we need to do this in the bedroom."

Delia helped him up. "Much as I'd like to, I don't want to take the chance of waking Ash."

"What about the guest bedroom down here?"

Delia smiled roguishly. 

--- 

A couple of hours later, Ash walked into the kitchen and was surprised to see both his mother and Professor Oak sitting at the table eating breakfast.

"Good morning, honey," said his mother. "Did you sleep well?"

"Hello, Ash," said Professor Oak. "I stopped by to have a talk with your mother and she invited me to stay for breakfast."

Ash was used to seeing the two of them together, but now that he knew that these were his parents sitting there…well, it was kind of weird.

"Sit down, Ash," his mother instructed. "We would like to discuss something with you."

__

Uh-oh, that didn't sound good. Did the two of them have another secret that they forgot to tell him yesterday?

"Ash," Delia began, "now that you know the truth about us, we've decided that it's time that we told everyone else the truth, too." 

"What do you mean?" Ash asked.

Delia held out her hand to show her son the diamond ring sparkling on her finger. "Samuel asked me to marry him."

"Whoa." Ash's eyes opened wide as he stared at the ring. "I don't get it, Professor Oak. What about your career?"

"I've decided to retire from teaching at Celadon University. That way I can spend more time with your mother." He smiled in Delia's direction.

"Aw, man. I wanted to take your Pokémon biology course next year."

"Don't worry about that, Ash. I can give you the full lecture. Besides, I think you'll learn a lot more about Pokémon when you and your mother move into my place."


	10. Chapter 10

Gary Oak sat under a tree on the grounds of his grandfather's Pokémon preserve. He took a deep breath of the crisp November air, hoping that it would clear his head. He still felt a little woozy.

"Umbre?" his Umbreon asked with concern.

Gary pulled his Pokémon close to him. "It's okay, Umbreon. I'll be okay."

Gary leaned back and rested his head against the trunk of the massive tree. His grandfather's words were still spinning around in his head.

--- 

"Hey, Grandpa. What did you want to talk to me about?" 

"Sit down, Gary," Professor Oak gestured in the direction of the couch in the living room. "I have something I need to tell you and I wanted you to hear it from me first." 

Gary noticed that his grandfather seemed nervous. "What is it, Grandpa?" he asked as he sat down.

Professor Oak took the seat on the couch next to Gary's. "I just wanted to…goodness, I don't know where to begin, really." He took a deep breath. "Mrs. Ketchum and I are going to get married."

"Well, it's about time!" Gary grinned at the sight of the shocked expression on his grandfather's face. "Don't look so surprised, Grandpa. Everyone in Pallet Town knows you and Mrs. Ketchum have had a thing going for years."

"They do?"

"Sure. It's the worst-kept secret in town. When's the wedding?"

"Uh…next month. Probably around Christmas."

"Boy, you guys aren't wasting any time. Is there a reason why you guys are in such a hurry?" Gary winked. "I'm not going to have an aunt or uncle in a few months, am I?"

"No," Professor Oak said hastily. "It's nothing like that. But since you brought up the subject…"

"What do you mean, Grandpa?" 

"Gary, Mrs. Ketchum…Delia and I have been involved for many years. Eighteen years, to be exact."

"Eighteen years," Gary mused. "Right after Grandma died, huh?"

"Yes. Delia helped me get over the pain of your grandmother's death. When we first started our relationship, we weren't…we, um…we didn't…oh, I don't know how to say this."

"Just spit it out, Grandpa." Gary was starting to get worried at the turn this conversation was taking.

"Gary, Ash is my son. Mine and Delia's."

Gary's eyes grew wide, then he grinned nervously. "Okay, that's funny, Grandpa. Now what did you _really _want to talk to me about?"

"Gary, it's true. Ash is my son, which makes him your uncle." 

Gary looked at his grandfather, hoping that something in his expression would indicate that this was some sort of joke. But as Gary studied the serious expression on his grandfather's face, the truth hit him like a ton of bricks.

__

Oh my God, Grandpa's not kidding.

Gary grew deathly pale. "You…you're serious?"

"Yes, Gary." 

"Oh my God." Gary looked ill and started to sway unsteadily in his seat.

Professor Oak was ready this time. "Gary, put your head between your knees." As Gary leaned over, Professor Oak started patting his grandson's back reassuringly. "It's okay. Ash did the same thing yesterday."

Gary's head shot up. "Ash knows? Oh shi…" Gary didn't finish his sentence. Bringing his head up too quickly had made him so dizzy that he passed out and tumbled to the floor.

--- 

As Gary stroked Umbreon's head, he spotted a teenage boy and a small yellow Pokémon approaching the place where they sat.

"Hello, Gary," Ash said awkwardly.

"Hey, Ash," Gary replied, not bothering to look up. "Guess Grandpa told you about you and me being related, huh?"

"Yeah," Ash said as he and Pikachu sat down next to Gary and Umbreon. 

"Well, don't expect me to start calling you 'Uncle Ash'."

"Don't worry, I won't ask you to. I still can't believe it myself." Ash stared off into the distance. "Look, Gary. I know we haven't always gotten along."

"True."

"But since we're…we're family now, then maybe we should try to get along. For Mom and Professor Oak's sake. You know, " Ash said with a slight smile, "we fight so much that we should've figured out that we were related a long time ago."

Gary grinned. "Yeah. It's kind of like how me and my sister May used to fight all the time. Wonder if Grandpa's told her yet?"

"Yeah, guess I'm her uncle, too. That's weird…she's older than I am and I'm her uncle."

"Yeah." The two boys watched in silence as Pikachu and Umbreon started playing together. "Are you going to move here when your mom and Grandpa get married?"

"Probably."

"Pikachu will like it here. You've done a good job training him, you know."

Ash was momentarily taken aback by the compliment from his long-standing rival. "Thanks, Gary. Your Umbreon is pretty awesome, too."

"Well, naturally. We Oaks have always been master trainers." Gary smiled slyly. 

Ash grinned. "Maybe being related to you isn't so bad, after all."

"Yeah, well, don't let it get around. I do have a reputation to uphold, after all." Gary stood up. "Let's have a Pokémon battle and see which Oak is the better trainer, shall we?"

Ash scrambled to his feet. "You're on!"


	11. Chapter 11

The following month, most of Pallet Town, along with many others from the surrounding area, gathered on the grounds of the Oak estate for a special event. Delia had wanted a garden ceremony, but the weather was just too cold; even now, the sky was overcast and tiny snowflakes were starting to fall. They had compromised by erecting a giant heated tent on the back lawn and filling it with all sorts of flowers from the greenhouse. The guests "oohed" and "ahhed" at the flowers as they took their seats inside the tent, where Samuel and Delia stood before the minister who would perform the ceremony. Both were visibly nervous. Delia gave the man who would soon be her husband a quick, shaky smile. He reached over and took her hand. It was just as cold and clammy as his own.

The minister opened his book and adjusted his glasses.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join Delia and Samuel in holy matrimony. But before we begin the ceremony, this young man," he gestured in Ash's direction, "has asked if he could address the congregation."

Delia and Samuel exchanged confused glances.

"Ash, what are you doing?" Misty whispered.

"You'll see, Misty." Ash turned to face the audience.

"Um, first I want to thank everyone for coming out, especially with the weather being so cold and all. Uh…guess what I really want to say is that…." He took a deep breath. "That Professor Oak is my father. My _real_ father."

There was a collective gasp from the congregation. 

"It's true. Even though he and my mom couldn't be together until now, he tried really hard to be there for both of us. And I just wanted to say that I'm proud to be his son."

Delia looked like she was ready to cry. So did Professor Oak. 

Ash went over to his parents and stood in front of them. 

"Oh, Ash," Delia said as she hugged him, tears starting in her eyes. "I'm so proud of you."

"Thank you, Ash," said Professor Oak in a voice choked with emotion as he held his hand out to his son. "That took a lot of courage."

Ash took his father's hand and grinned. "No problem….Dad."

As the three of them embraced, Misty, who was also crying, stood up and started clapping. Brock and Tracey immediately followed suit, then Gary, then the rest of the congregation gave them a standing ovation.

---

The wedding reception was in full swing. The bride and groom were in the middle of their fifth dance together when Samuel felt a tap on his shoulder.

"May I cut in?"

Delia smiled as her new partner took her hand. "Hello, Spencer."

"I've been trying to get a dance with you all night, but that husband of yours wouldn't let me get near you. You look absolutely beautiful, Delia," Spencer smiled as his eyes met hers.

"Thank you, Spencer," Delia blushed. "Where's your family?"

"Let's see." Spencer twirled Delia around the dance floor. "It looks like my wife is dancing with your husband, my daughter is dancing with your son, and my son is busy helping himself to his third slice of wedding cake."

"How is everyone doing?" Delia asked as she watched Ash dance with Molly.

"Just fine. Matter of fact, Elizabeth and I are going to have another baby." 

"Oh, Spencer, that's wonderful!"

"Yep," Spencer said proudly. "In another five months there's going to be some more Hale to raise."

Delia laughed. "Spencer, that's the worst pun I've ever heard. And I thought Samuel's were bad."

"Yeah, that was pretty bad, wasn't it?" Spencer admitted. "Guess it goes along with growing old."

"Nonsense, Spencer. You look as handsome as ever."

"And you look as beautiful as ever, Delia. I'm glad to see you so happy." 

As the music faded away, Delia looked into her partner's eyes and saw a mixture of both love and a hint of regret for what might have been. Taking her chin in his hand, Spencer leaned over and gently kissed Delia's cheek.

"Samuel is a very lucky man," he whispered enviously.

---

Later that evening, Delia and Samuel lay in bed together, the same bed where they had first made love many years ago. They were spending their wedding night at his place, then were leaving for a week-long honeymoon in the Orange Islands in the morning. Ash had initially been thrilled at the prospect of having the house to himself for a week, but was disappointed when his mother informed him that the house was now up for sale and that he'd be spending the time moving their things into Professor Oak's. Ash had at first been reluctant to move from the house he had spent his entire life in, and Delia had wanted to wait until Ash had left for college next fall before selling the house. However, when Professor Oak told Ash that he could have the apartment over the lab, Ash jumped at the idea of having a bachelor pad like Brock's. And the idea of being around lots of Pokémon wasn't so bad, either.

Delia was admiring the diamond-studded wedding band her husband had presented her with earlier that day. 

"Like it?" he asked her.

"I love it. But I like this ring even better," she said, fingering her husband's plain gold wedding band.

She snuggled up against him and laid her head on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and slowly started stroking her hair. The effect was almost immediate. The warmth of the familiar embrace and the soothing motion of his hand against her hair made her yawn. She closed her eyes and started dozing off, lulled to sleep by the slow, steady rhythm of his heartbeat.

"Delia, are you falling asleep?"

"Sorry, Samuel," she murmured. "It's been a long day."

"Now that's a switch," he said in an amused tone. "The young wife falling asleep on her wedding night while the old husband wants to make love."

He slowly moved his hands down her body. After eighteen years together, he knew exactly where and how she liked to be touched.

"Mmmm, Samuel," she purred. "Maybe I'm not as tired as I thought."

"Well then, let's get started on our honeymoon, Mrs. Oak."

After waiting for eighteen years for them to finally be together, he wasn't going to wait another minute more.

THE END


End file.
